UAE, Paraguay to strengthen economic and trade ties

Abu Dhabi: Preliminary data indicates that the UAE's gross domestic product exceeded Dh1.58 trillion in the last year, and IMF estimates put growth over three per cent, said Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy.
Speaking at a meeting with Eladio Loizaga, Paraguay Minister of Foreign Affairs, the minister of economy pointed out that while the International Monetary Fund estimated a growth rate for the UAE of more than three per cent in 2015, preliminary data indicates that the GDP exceeded Dh1.58 trillion in the same year. The minister said spoke deliberated on ways and means to enhancing economic relations between the two nations.
Al Mansouri called for the intensification of such visits between the two countries. He also recommended the setting up of increased business meetings to strengthen economic and trade relations. Informing that trade between the UAE and Paraguay reached $68.8 million by the end of 2014, he noted that the large economic fundamentals for both countries offers enhanced scope to build upon existing statistics.
Al Mansouri said that the UAE recently ranked 17th globally in the Global Competitiveness Report for the year 2015-2016 issued by the World Economic Forum in Davos, besides ranking first in the Arab World and 31st worldwide in the 2016 Doing Business Report released by the World Bank. Pointing out the need to sign agreements between the UAE and Paraguay in order to protect and promote financial investments and avoid double taxation, he called for increasing the number of flights between the two sectors for the promotion of tourism in both countries. For his part, Eladio Loizaga, minister of foreign affairs of Paraguay expressed his country's keenness in boosting relations with UAE across trade and investments. He said there exists opportunities that the two sides can benefit from.
Highlighted the need to establish partnerships with private sector enterprises in the trade and agriculture sectors, the visiting minister pointed out that his country welcomes Emirati investors and invites their partnership with the UAE in different industries, especially food security.
The minister said: "Paraguay is land of pastoral agriculture that includes cattle and sheep breeding. As a result, much of the rural areas (around 90 per cent) are considered agricultural. This industry plays a key role in Paraguay's economy and has about two million hectares of suitable agricultural land not to mention considerable rainfall throughout the year."
The foreign minister also stressed that the South American country produces large amounts of energy and has one of the largest plants in the world that produces around one million megawatts of energy per year. Paraguay also occupies third place globally in the number of registered ships.
- haseeb@khaleejtimes.com